SIS News

Honoring Robert Durant's Lifetime of Scholarship

By Jacqueline Corbett

June 20, 2013

Professor Robert Durant

Professor Robert F. Durant has been selected to receive the 2013 John Gaus Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA). The Gaus Award recognizes a lifetime of exemplary scholarship in the joint traditions of political science and public administration and is among the most prestigious career awards in the field of public administration.

“Bob is one of the most active researchers of his generation, and his work is critical to those who study policy and reform. As his colleagues, we are inspired by his high level of accomplishment and grateful for the mentorship he provides to his junior colleagues and students,” said Barbara S. Romzek, dean of the School of Public Affairs.

Durant has written broadly in the areas of executive branch politics, public management, policy implementation, environmental policy, and administrative reform. He has published more than 100 refereed articles, book chapters, and monographs, including articles in leading political science, public administration, and public policy journals. He is the author or coauthor of eight books, including The Administrative Presidency Revisited: Public Lands, the BLM, and the Reagan Revolution; The Greening of the U.S. Military: Environmental Policy, National Security, and Organizational Change; and The Oxford Handbook of American Bureaucracy.

The recipient of numerous honors in addition to those noted above, Durant has received the Gladys M. Kammerer Award from APSA for the best book published in 1992 on U.S. national policy; the 2000 Best Book Award from the Section on Public and Nonprofit Management of the Academy of Management; the Jeffrey Pressman Award from the Policy Studies Organization for the best article published in 1995 in the Policy Studies Review; the 1999 best article award from the American Review of Public Administration; and the 2011 American University Scholar-Teacher of the Year award. Durant is on the editorial boards of 10 academic journals, is past president of the Section on Public Administration of APSA, and led the establishment of the Paul A. Volcker Endowment for Public Service Research and Education. Durant is a member of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Exemplifying AU’s commitment to the Scholar-Teacher model, Durant’s selection for the Gaus Award also makes AU the only institution with two individuals—himself and Distinguished Professor David H. Rosenbloom—who have received the Gaus Award; the Dwight Waldo Award for Lifetime Contributions to Research in Public Administration; the Charles H. Levine Award for Outstanding Research, Teaching, and Service to the Profession; and the Leslie A. Whittington Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching.

“It is a sign of the caliber of our faculty in having two winners of these prestigious lifetime achievement awards,” said Dean Romzek.

Durant will receive the award and deliver the John Gaus Lecture at APSA's annual meeting in Chicago this August. Durant’s lecture will be entitled, “Taking Time Seriously: Progressivism, the Business-Social Science Nexus, and the Paradox of American Administrative Reform.” The full text of his talk will be published in an upcoming issue of PS: Political Science & Politics.